Little old ladies pay attention to Toilets – you just never know when you are going to need one – rush. So here’s the down and dirty on the toilet situation in Seoul.

In a word – it’s great. Seriously. We should take a lesson. There are toilets everywhere, even in the metros! I mean who ever designed the Montreal Metros as a toilet free zone should be eternally cursed with diarrhea – it would serve him right.

And there are always western (flushing with seats) toilets available. And at the Lotte Hotel – the public toilets even have bidet’s attached. That’s service.

Sometimes both the stand up kind and the sit down kind are provided – but I’ve never seen just the stand-up kind in Seoul.

And that includes in the metro, in public parks, at the Museums, in the restaurants, even in malls. Toilets are plentiful, Western Style, have Toilet paper, are clean, and are easy to locate. Amazing. And perfect for traveling ladies of a certain age!

Even better – they think about the kids.

I know if you are a parent – you’ve had this problem. Your underage son has to pee – and you (the Mom) definitely don’t want to take him into the boy’s room. What to do? Well the Korean’s have 3 different solutions that I’ve seen so far.

Solution 1: A kids only bathroom in the lady’s room. Is this the cutest thing ever. And don’t worry – Jill wasn’t going to use them!

Solution 2: A completely separate bathroom – labeled for families. I didn’t peak inside, but Im guessing there are miniaturized toilets for both sexes inside.

Solution 3: This cracked me up – a mini kid sized urinal in the lady’s room! The entire thing came just to my knees – prefect for a little boy – and hardly offensive to the ladies.

My discussion wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t discuss the Toilet paper. There is always toilet paper in the stalls and it is soft – a miracle I think. I’ve never been to an Asian country that took their toilets this seriously. But if the dispensers in the ‘chambers’ should run out – there is a dispenser on the wall by the entrance – you just help yourself before you enter – or ask someone to hand some over.

One tiny complaint – they put the dispenser for toilet paper a lot further back toward the rear wall then we are used to. That means you have to twist to get the paper. I don’t know if they notice the difference – but for me it’s just a bit awkward. Maybe they can get away with it because Korean women are more flexible than us. Who knows?

One more curiosity related to toilet paper – they love to use toilet paper for paper napkins on the tables of the hostels. Gross – but there you are. The cute thing – they don’t just set a roll on the table – there are dispensers that look like onions designed just for the purpose of hiding the toilet paper. Too funny. And trust me – a bit of a surprise the first time you ask for a napkin and get pointed to an onion.

Good job Korea! You win the Montreal Madame’s seal of Approval for taking public toiletting seriously!